


don't cry mercy (there's too much pain to come)

by Ariesgirl666



Category: DCU, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: All Human AU, Artemis is the pastor's daughter, F/F, Historical AU, More archive warnings to come, Salem Witch Trials AU, Zatanna is a midwife, Zatanna isn't a witch fyi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-12-03 21:04:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11540403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ariesgirl666/pseuds/Ariesgirl666
Summary: In 17th century Salem, the witch hunt begins and Zatanna Zatara, an unmarried midwife living on her own, is one of the first people they suspect. Meanwhile, Artemis Crock, the pastor's daughter, struggles with her feelings for said midwife in a town where being different is enough to get you hung.Historical AU -Salem witch trials





	1. Leave me in chains

**Author's Note:**

> This happened because I watched the pilot episode of Salem while I was thinking about young justice. I didn't like Salem honestly because it portrayed the townspeople as right to have done the witch trials, and I found most of the characters dislikable. Anyway, my very tired brain came up with "magical lesbian witch shenanigans" and then this happened.  
> I should say now that this is probably not going to be one of my lighter stories, since this takes place at a pretty dark time. Also, if anything is historically inaccurate please let me know because my main source of information has been what I remember from the Crucible, which I really should reread.

_Prologue_

_“You have to do something, Dad!”_

_“There isn’t anything I can do, Dick. I’m sorry,” Goodman Wayne says, one hand on his son’s back._

_“Dick. Don't. It’s fine.” Zatanna puts her arms around the dark-haired boy briefly before the baliff tugs her back by the sleeve of her dress._

_Zatanna stumbles as she’s pushed up the steps to the gallows. The hangman stands ahead of her, a black mask covering his face._

_“I am Zatanna Zatara,” she whispers to herself. “I am my father’s daughter. I will not cry.”“_

_What is she saying?” shouts a woman from the crowd._

_“Is she trying to cast a spell?”  
"Gag her!” shouts another man. _

_“This is ridiculous!” Barbara Gordon shouts, raising her voice to be heard above the crowd. “Witches don’t exist!”_

_Mayor Luthor shouts for quiet. His eyes are not unsympathetic as he turns to Zatanna._

_“Zatanna Zatara, you have been accused of being a witch, making a contract with the devil, and trying to corrupt an innocent girl. How do you plead?”_

_Zatanna looks into the crowd, searching for a face she knows won't be there._

_"How do you plead?" Mayor Luthor repeats._

_She can barely hear herself as she whispers, “Guilty.”_


	2. Strip Me of Shame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Salem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter opens with a sermon in church. I want to preface this by saying I mean no disrespect to anyone's religion, and I myself am Jewish so if I get anything wrong I deeply apologize. However, what I'm trying to show in this chapter is how often people in Salem would use fear-mongering and that was really what spread the fear that there might be witches. Also, obviously, Artemis's father is an evil manipulative bastard, so that shows.

“We are fighting a war!” Pastor Crock says. “Not on the ground but in our very hearts and souls. The devil is in all of us, people of  Salem, and it is our responsibility to wipe him out! I warn you now as God intends me to, we must be merciless in order to root out the devil inside us!”

“I’m sure God didn’t intend him to spit this much,” Dick Grayson murmurs into Zatanna’s ear. She slaps her hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles.

“And of course, the sin of wanton lust,” continues Pastor Crock, glaring openly at Dick. Dick nods solemnly, his mouth twitching with the effort to repress a smile. Zatanna folds her hands over her gray skirts and doesn’t meet Pastor Crock’s eyes.

“What does he know about this stuff anyway?” Dick whispers. “He couldn’t even save his own daughter from the Devil.”

Everyone in Salem knows about Jade Crock, although her name is never spoken after she left Salem by herself in the middle of the night. Zatanna glances sideways at where Pastor Crock’s family sits in the first pew. His wife has her head bowed, but his remaining daughter, Artemis, fidgets uncomfortably in her pale green cotton dress.

* * *

 

After the service, Zatanna catches up to Artemis. “Good morning.”

Artemis looks surprised to be addressed. “Uh, good morning. Do I know you?”

“Oh –sorry. I’m Zatanna Zatara -the midwife. I keep to myself, usually.”

“Are you sure you want to associate with me?” Artemis asks dryly. Wisps of her summer-blond hair are tumbling out of her bonnet and framing her heart-shaped face. Zatanna has to resist the urge to tuck them back.

“I’m sorry about your sister,” Zatanna says lamely.

“It’s fine,” Artemis says. “She wasn’t really possessed by the Devil, you know.”

“Does your father want you saying things like that?”

Artemis shrugs. “I doubt it. Are you going to tell him?”

“Of course not!”

“Good.”

“Were you two close?” Artemis looks surprised at the genuine interest in Zatanna’s question. “Yeah, we were,” she says. “Between the two of us, I wish she’d taken me with her.”

“You’d want to leave Salem?” It wasn’t as though Zatanna hadn’t thought about leaving herself –after her father died, it was hard making a living as the town’s only female doctor. Dick had supported her until she started getting patients.  
But Salem was all she’d ever known. It was where her father had practiced, and his father before that.

“I hate it here,” Artemis says. “Father just cares about what the rest of the town thinks of him. He’s trying to marry me off quickly, but nobody wants the sister of a witch.” Gray eyes lighting up with an idea, Artemis turns. “Zatanna, how did you get away with not being married?”

“Well, the mayor knows that I’m the only good midwife in town. He knows marriage would just inconvenience me.”

“I could be a midwife if it got me out of being married,” Artemis says, pouting adorably. Zatanna laughs. “You would be a terrible midwife.”

“How do you know?” Artemis makes a face like she’s insulted, but she’s laughing. “You just met me!”

“You have nervous hands,” Zatanna explains. “You were fidgeting too much in church.” Artemis looks at Zatanna from under her eyelashes, suddenly sly. “You were watching me, then?” Zatanna wishes she wasn’t so pale, as her cheeks flare pink.

She’s saved from answering as Pastor Crock shouts from behind them. 

“Artemis!” The two girls turn.

Pastor Crock’s arms are crossed and he glares at his daughter. “Come here, right now!” he bellows. Beside him, Artemis’s mother looks like she wants to disappear into his shadow. “Coming, Father!” Artemis shouts. “It was really nice to meet you, Zatanna,” she adds with a brave smile. 

“Oh –you can call me Zee. All my friends do,” Zatanna offers, and then feels stupid because she doesn’t really have very many friends other than Dick. Artemis smiles. “Bye, Zee.”

“Bye, Artemis.” Impulsively, Zatanna reaches out to fix Artemis’s bonnet. Her hand touches Artemis’s tanned cheek and instead of pulling away, the other woman smiles.

“Artemis, now!” Crock shouts. Artemis turns and walks stiffly back towards her father, the levity gone from her gaze.

“Something wrong?” Dick asks in Zatanna’s ear. She turns, startled. “You have got to stop sneaking up on me like that!”

He laughs.

“Dick…” Zatanna says, making sure to keep her voice low. “Can I ask you a question?”

He lowers his voice too. “Sure, Zee.”

Zatanna thinks of Artemis Crock’s heart shaped face and how smooth her skin was. “Nevermind.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter should be up soon, will probably be from Artemis's point of view.  
> So, in this continuity, Jade ran away in the middle of the night, probably because their father is really abusive, but everyone thought it meant she was crazy or possessed or whatever, except for Artemis. If there are any background ships here, I'd love your input because I haven't decided yet (Particularly involving Barbara, because she's going to be a main character, and/or Dick, although I'm not sure how much of a role he'll have yet because this story's really mostly focused on the girls.) Also next chapter guest stars more characters from Young Justice as well as my two favorite DCU villains!

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, and the chapter titles are from the song mercy by hurts. i don't own the characters, obviously, and the next chapter will be longer, I promise.


End file.
